In his 44 years as a helicopter pilot, Karim has flown missions including troop insertion/extraction and nighttime intelligence with B Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Vietnam, firefighting, search and rescue, long-line construction, survey and animal capture. He worked in mountain, desert, jungle and offshore environments and also in the Arctic and Antarctic. He has more than 20,000 hr in 11 helicopter types and several fixed-wing aircraft. His licenses and ratings include certificated flight instructor (rotorcraft), endorsed for night-vision goggles. He currently consults for SRT Helicopters in Bakersfield, California.